On Hallowe’en, I’ll be sharing on the blog the story of the haunted house I lived in when I was at Uni. It is a story I’ve told many times, but have never written it down.

Cabin in the Woods

Today I’ve put together my Top 5 Horror/Ghost movies from the past 5 years. My all-time Top 5 Horror Movies would have been easier. I did, after all, grow up on a steady diet of them. In recent years I have felt like the genre has been stuck in a cycle of disappointing remakes (“The Grudge/Juon”, “The Omen”, “Evil Dead”) and tediously derivative and predictable plots. Happily, there are quite a few gems and I think the genre is slowly resurrecting itself from it’s zombie grave.

It took me many years after the girls were born to get back into watching them. Somehow my ability to sit through 2 hours of ghosts, zombies and demons came out with my two placentas. I do love me a good story, though, and the horror genre produces some of the best of them.

Cloverfield (2008)—more science fiction than horror, it is a thrilling tale of a monster invasion with an unexpected ending.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)—a cross between “Cube” and “Evil Dead”, it is an ostensibly standard zombie/final girl flick with a marvellous and darkly comic twist.

Devil (2010)—5 people are stuck in an elevator, one is the Devil. Which one?

[Rec] (2008)— a non-stop rollicking Spanish ghost/zombie story told in documentary style. The American version “Quarantine” is also excellent. Heartstopping sh*t.

The Awakening (2011)—a British ghost story set in 1921, it tells the story of a hoax catcher trying to debunk the haunting of a boarding school. It sent more than one chill down my spine.

And an honourable mention must go to My Bloody Valentine (2009) a remake of the 1980′s classic, because Jensen Ackles.

I LOVE horror movies but am also that scaredy cat hiding behind a blanket or pillow as well lol. I would have The Strangers on my list from the last 5 years- freaked me out so much I don’t know that I will ever watch it again

Funny, I’m the same. Always loved ghost/horror films (though not sadistic slasher films) but found I couldn’t watch them once my kids were born. Now they’re 7 I’m getting back into it! I liked The Cabin in the Woods – pretty original. I like the sound of The Awakening!

I’m the same with sadistic slasher films. They’re just not very interesting to me (unless there is some serious eye candy in them). Cabin in the Woods was good, wasn’t it? I thought it was going to be really traditional final girl action, then I realised Joss Whedon had produced it and thought “hmmmmm, maybe not”. Kx

I LOVE freaky, scary thrillers but they have to be real – you know over the top slashers, chainsaw ones I can’t do but I love zombie, super natural types genres, anything that makes me question and freak me out! Must DL Devil sounds like a good one I haven’t seen